Motor Testing Setup

[Praveen44]

Hi people,

We are doing repair and overhauling of motors and are in plans to setup a motor testing centre . We had approached phenix for their motor test system and we would be testing for a maximum of 1200 HP motors no load and full load tests. We felt it is a very expensive setup and we want to try buying a step up transformer of an appropriate rating instead and setup a unit ourselves. Kindly let me know the pros and cons of having either of these and which one do you suggest is a better option in terms of commercial and technical aspects?

 

[ScottyUK]

Full-load tests are the big problem here. A 900kW brake is never going to be cheap and a regenerative drive of similar size will be expensive. Why do you think you can self-build this more cheaply tahn you can buy it? Do you have the major hardware items already available or can you obtain them at low cost?

 

[Praveen44]

Hi Scotty,

Thanks for the reply
Actually we want to compare both the options and decide. We do not have any of the hardware components yet and we have to buy everything and build. The MTS offered by phenix costs almost 1.5 million bucks so we are not sure if it will cost more or less than that if we self build it with brake and regenerative drive, So you feel it will cost us more if we self build it from the scratch?

 

[ScottyUK]

There's certainly a real risk of that happening.

They've done all the one-off engineering already and should have pretty much de-bugged the design so they have a working solution which they can build and sell. You're starting further back than that, at the point of design and development. Engineering time in most companies is expensive. My internal recharge rate per hour is much higher than the 'hourly rate' that I receive in my wages because it factors in all the other overheads, and that is typical of most companies. It is easy to overlook or underestimate these costs in the first instance, and it is also hard to predict with any certainty just how much engineering time is needed in design & development.

Motors, switchgear, drives are likely to be commercially available items which either you or the manufacturer will integrate into the system, so you'll pay pretty much the same as they pay for them; there's no cost saving to make. They have some sort of control system designed and approved if necessary, where you will be developing your own. The rest of it largely low-cost items: steelwork, cable, etc.

If you have access to very low cost design engineering then maybe you can do it at lower cost. Just don't count on it.

 

[Praveen44]

Very true. Thank you for your insights & suggestions scotty.